Press Release: Kerala Assembly Elections 2021: Analysis of Criminal Background, Financial, Education, Gender and other Details of Candidates

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Apr 1, 2021, 3:09:39 AM4/1/21

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Press Release

1st April, 2021

Dear Friends,

The Kerala Election Watch and Association for Democratic Reforms (ADR) have analysed the self-sworn affidavits of 928 out of 957 candidates from 140 constituencies, who are contesting in the Kerala Assembly Elections 2021. Out of 928 candidates analysed, 364 are from National parties, 52 are from State parties, 201 are from registered unrecognized parties and 311 candidates are contesting independently.

The full report in English can be accessed here: https://adrindia.org/content/kerala-assembly-elections-2021-analysis-criminal-background-financial-education-gender-and

Summary and Highlights

Criminal Background

Candidates with Criminal Cases: Out of 928 candidates analyzed, 355 (38%) candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves. In 2016 Kerala Assembly Elections, out of 1125 candidates analysed, 311 (28%) had declared criminal cases against themselves.
Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: 167 (18%) have declared serious criminal cases against themselves. In 2016 Kerala Assembly Elections, 138 (12%) candidates had declared serious criminal cases against themselves.

An BJP Candidate, K. Surendran who is contesting from 2 constituencies namely Konni and Manjeshwar has declared 248 criminal cases against himself including cases related to Attempt to murder, maintenance of harmony, dacoity, robbery, criminal intimidation etc., Dr. K. S. Radhakrishnan of BJP from Thripunithura Has declared 211 criminal cases against himself including cases related to Attempt to commit culpable homicide, dacoity, House-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment, Voluntarily causing hurt by dangerous weapons or means etc. and Radhakrishnan of also BJP from Manalur constituency has declared 176 criminal cases against himself, including cases related to Attempt to murder, dacoity, commit culpable homicide, criminal force to woman with intent to outrage her modesty , House-trespass in order to commit offence punishable with imprisonment etc.

Figure: Comparative analysis of Candidates with declared Criminal Cases: 2016 vs 2021

Party wise Candidates with Criminal Cases: Among the major parties,77(89%) out of 87 candidates analysed from INC, 76(71%) out of 107 candidates analysed from BJP, 49(68%) out of 72 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 17 (68%) out of 25 candidates analysed from IUML, 10 (44%) out of 23 candidates analysed from CPI, 4 (33%) out of 12 candidates analysed from Kerala Congress (M) and 8(11%) out of 72 candidates analysed from BSP have declared criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Figure: Party Wise Candidates with Criminal Cases

Party wise Candidates with Serious Criminal Cases: Among the major parties, 47(54%) out of 87 candidates analysed from INC, 38(36%) out of 107 candidates analysed from BJP, 19(26%) out of 72 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 6(24%) out of 25 candidates analysed from IUML, 2(9%) out of 23 candidates analysed from CPI and 6(8%) out of 72 candidates analysed from BSP have declared serious criminal cases against themselves in their affidavits.

Candidates with declared cases related to crime against women: 16 candidates have declared cases related to crime against women. Out of 16 candidates 1 candidate has declared cases related to rape (IPC Section-376).

Candidates with declared cases related to murder: 6 candidates have declared cases related to murder (IPC Section-302) against themselves.

Candidates with declared cases related to attempt to murder: 16 candidates have declared cases related to Attempt to murder (IPC Section-307) against themselves.

Red Alert Constituencies*: 75(54%) out of 140 constituencies are Red alert constituencies. Red alert constituencies are those where 3 or more contesting candidates have declared criminal cases against themselves.

The directions of the Supreme Court have had no effect on the political parties in selection of candidates in the Kerala Assembly Elections 2021 as they have again followed their old practice of giving tickets to around 38% candidates with criminal cases. All major parties contesting in Kerala elections have given tickets ranging from 11% to 89% candidates who have declared criminal cases against themselves. The Supreme Court in its directions dated 13th February, 2020 had specifically instructed political parties to give reasons for such selection and why other individuals without criminal antecedents could not be selected as candidates. As per these mandatory guidelines, the reasons for such selection has to be with reference to qualifications, achievements and merit of the candidate concerned. During the recent Bihar Assembly elections held in October, 2020 it was observed that political parties gave unfounded and baseless reasons like popularity of the person, does good social work, cases are politically motivated etc. These are not sound and cogent reasons for fielding candidates with tainted backgrounds. This data clearly shows that political parties have no interest in reforming the electoral system and our democracy will continue to suffer at the hands of lawbreakers who become lawmakers.

Financial Background

Figure: Share of Wealth among the Contesting Candidates

Share of wealth among candidates: The share of wealth amongst the candidates contesting in the Kerala assembly elections 2021 is as follows:

Value of assets (Rs.)	Number of candidates	Percentage of Candidates
5 cr and above	48	5%
2 crores to 5 crores	96	10%
50 lakhs to 2 crores	241	26%
10 lakhs to 50 lakhs	286	31%
less than 10 lakhs	257	28%

Table: Share of wealth amongst contesting candidates

Crorepati Candidates: Out of the 928 candidates analysed, 249 (27%) are crorepatis. In 2016 Kerala Assembly Elections, out of 1125 candidates, 202 (18%) were crorepatis.

Figure: Comparative Analysis of Crorepati Candidates: 2016 Vs 2021

Party wise Crorepati Candidates: Among the major parties 21(84%) out of 25 candidates analysed from IUML, 10(83%) out of 12 candidates analysed from Kerala Congress (M), 49(56%) out of 87 candidates analysed from INC, 32(44%) out of 72 candidates analysed from CPI(M), 34(32%) out of 107 candidates analysed from BJP and 7 (30%) out of 23 candidates from CPI have declared assets valued more than Rs 1 crore.

Figure: Party Wise Percentage of Crorepati Candidates

Average assets: The average of assets per candidate analysed in the Kerala Assembly Elections 2021 is Rs 1.69 Crore. In 2016 Kerala Assembly Elections, average assets per candidate for 1125 candidates was Rs.1.28 crores.
Party wise average assets: Among major parties, the average assets per candidate for 107 BJP candidates analysed is Rs. 2.17 Crores, 87 INC candidates analysed is Rs 3.01 Crores, 72 CPI(M) candidates have average assets of Rs 1.53 Crore, 25 IUML candidates have average assets of Rs 3.49 Crores, 23 CPI candidates have average assets of Rs 88.05 Lacs and 12 Kerala Congress (M) candidates have average assets worth Rs 2.97 Crores.
High asset candidates: The details of top 3 candidates with highest declared assets, contesting in the Kerala Assembly Elections are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	M.V.Shreyamskumar	Wayanad	Kalpetta	Loktantrik Janta Dal	12,47,76,043	75,51,24,870	87,99,00,913 87 Crore+	Y
2	Chenkal. S. Rajasekharan Nair	Thiruvananthapuram	Neyyattinkara	BJP	44,04,56,414	20,17,78,458	64,22,34,872 64 Crore+	Y
3	P.V. Anvar	Malappuram	Nilambur	IND	19,62,19,931	44,52,33,000	64,14,52,931 64 Crore+	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest declared assets

Zero assets candidates: There are 3 candidates who have declared zero assets. The details of these candidates are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Vijaya K P	KASARAGOD	KASARAGOD	BSP	0	0	0	Y
2	N K Surendran	KANNUR	KANNUR	IND	0	0	0	N
3	Nsk Puram Sasikumar	PALAKKAD	CHITTUR	IND	0	0	0	Y

Table: Candidates with declared zero assets

Low assets candidates: The details of three candidates with the lowest assets (excluding zero assets candidates) are as follows:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Movable Assets (Rs)	Immovable Assets (Rs)	Total Assets (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Parthasaradhi K	Idukki	Thodupuzha	IND	200^*	0	200 2 Hund+	Y
2	E. Kunjumon	Kollam	Kottarakkara	SUCI(C)	500^*	0	500 5 Hund+	N
3	Ondan Paniyan	Wayanad	Sulthanbathery	IND	1,000	0	1,000 1 Thou+	N

Table: Candidates with declared lowest assets

Candidates with high liabilities: 521(56%) candidates have declared liabilities in their affidavits. The details of top three candidates with highest liabilities are given below:

S.No.	Name	District	Constituency	Party Name	Total Assets(Rs)	Liabilities (Rs)	Disputed liabilities (Rs)	PAN Given
1	Shibu Thekkumpuram	Ernakulam	Kothamangalam	Kerala Congress	51,69,92,483 51 Crore+	# 26,23,90,827 26 Crore+	500 5 Hund+	Y
2	K P M Musthafa S/O Muhammedali Haji	Malappuram	Perinthalmanna	IND	37,76,01,314 37 Crore+	20,59,50,000 20 Crore+	0	Y
3	P.V. Anvar	Malappuram	Nilambur	IND	64,14,52,931 64 Crore+	17,06,34,545 17 Crore+	0	Y

Table: Top three candidates with highest liabilities

Candidates with high income as declared in the ITR*: The details of top 3 candidates with high income declared in ITR are given below:

S.No.	Name	Party Name	Constituency	District	Total Asset (Rs)	Self-Source of Income	Spouse's Source of Income	The financial year for which the last income tax return has been filed by candidate	Total income shown by candidate in ITR (Self+Spouse+Dependent) (Rs)	Self-income shown by candidate in ITR (Rs)
1	Suresh Gopi	BJP	Thrissur	Thrissur	10,94,71,453 10 Crore+	Film Artist , Member Of Parliament	Background Singer	2019-2020	3,44,69,980 3 Crore+	3,24,29,750 3 Crore+
2	M.V.Shreyamskumar	Loktantrik Janta Dal	Kalpetta	Wayanad	87,99,00,913 87 Crore+	Agriculture Income, Salary & Allowances being Member of Parliament (Rajya Sabha), Salary as the Company Managing Director, Rental Income, Dividend & Interest Income	Dividend & Interest Income	2019-2020	2,95,41,150 2 Crore+	2,95,41,150 2 Crore+
3	Shibu Thekkumpuram	Kerala Congress	Kothamangalam	Ernakulam	51,69,92,483 51 Crore+	Income From Business	Income From Business	2019-2020	1,27,65,367 1 Crore+	71,33,730 71 Lacs+

Table: Top 3 candidates with highest income as declared in ITR

Undeclared PAN: A total of 160(17%) candidates have not declared their PAN details.

Other Background Details

Education details of candidates: 514(55%) candidates have declared their educational qualifications to be between 5^th and 12^thstandard while 370(40%) candidates have declared having an educational qualification of graduate or above. 24 candidates are Diploma holders. 4 candidates are Illiterate and 15 candidates are just literate. One Independent candidate namly Abdurahiman.V S/O Muhammed from Tanur constituency has not declared his education details in the affidavit.
Age details of candidates: 221(24%) candidates have declared their age to be between 25 to 40 years while 529(57%) candidates have declared their age to be between 41 to 60 years. There are 175(19%) candidates who have declared their age to be between 61 to 80 years and 3 candidates have declared they are more than 80 years old.
Gender details of candidates: 104(11%) female candidates are contesting in the Kerala assembly election 2021. In 2016 Kerala Assembly Elections, 104(9%) out of 1125 candidates analysed were women.

Recommendations of ADR

To remedy the existing problem of criminalization is to immediately act upon the plausible solutions offered by various committees, civil society and citizens. The Supreme Court of India being the ultimate custodian of “Justice and Rule of Law” should reprimand political parties and politicians for their complete lack of will, reprehensible predilection and absence of required laws.
Permanent disqualification of candidates convicted for heinous crimes like murder, rape, smuggling, dacoity, kidnapping etc.
Disqualification of persons from contesting elections to the public offices against whom charges have been framed for having committed serious criminal offences punishable by imprisonment of at least 5 years, and the case is filed at least 6 months prior to the election in question.
Cancellation of tax exemptions given to the political parties who field such tainted candidates.
Bringing political parties under the Right to Information Act.
De-register and de-recognise any political party if it knowingly puts up a candidate with a tainted background.
Political parties should annually file the information on criminal antecedents of their Office Bearers and make such records available to the public, including NIL records.
Disqualification of candidates furnishing false information in the election affidavit (Form 26).
Ensure trial of cases in which the politicians are accused to be concluded in a time bound manner.
Implementation of SC judgment dated 23^rd September, 2013 (i.e provision of NOTA buttons on the EVMs) in its letter and spirit by ensuring a) if NOTA gets more votes than any of the candidates, none of the candidates should be declared elected, and a fresh election should be held; b) in the fresh election, none of the candidates in the earlier election, in which NOTA got the highest number of votes, should be allowed to contest.